LaVern Baker born 11 November 1929

Delores LaVern Baker (November 11, 1929 – March 10, 1997) was an American rhythm and blues singer who had several hit records on the pop charts in the 1950s and early 1960s. 

She was born Delores Williams in Chicago and was raised in nearby Calumet City Her aunt, Marilyn Baker, recorded for the RCA record label and she wanted to be like her. At the age of 11, she made her first record, "When I'm in a Crying Mood", with the bandleader Fletcher Henderson. During her teens, she recorded for Okeh Records as Bea Baker in 1951then switched to Delores Baker, and then was billed as LaVern Baker when she sang with Todd Rhodes and his band in 1952. She was nicknamed "Little Miss Sharecropper" during her three-year residency at the Flame Showbar in Detroit. Her passionate delivery inspired another resident there, Johnnie Ray.

Atlantic Records was building a powerful roster of black R & B artists including Big Joe Turner, Ray Charles and the Drifters, and Baker signed with the label in 1953. Her single "Soul On Fire", released that year, was the first record to be produced by Jerry Wexler. In 1955 she recorded a light-hearted novelty, "Tweedle Dee", which was an enormous R & B hit. It was copied note for note by a white performer, Georgia Gibbs, who took the song to No 2 in the US charts. At the time, the covering of black songs by white performers was commonplace but Baker was furious and lobbied politicians to allow copyrights on song arrangements. 

In 1955, Baker was the second most-played female artist in the United States after Etta James and she had a succession of hits on the R&B charts over the next couple of years with her backing group, the Gliders. She experienced success with both pop and R&B artists and she was one of the key musicians creating cross-over success for R&B. At the end of 1956, she had another hit with "Jim Dandy" (number 1 R&B, number 17 pop), which sold over one million copies and was certified as a gold disc. More hits followed for Atlantic, including the follow-up "Jim Dandy Got Married" (1957). 

                                   

These novelty hits obscured the fact that she was a great R & B vocalist; her 1958 album, LaVern Baker Sings Bessie Smith, was a confident blend of R & B and jazz. She resented being called a rock'n'roll singer - and a novelty one at that - but she also appeared in the films, Rock! Rock! Rock! (1957) and Mr Rock'n'Roll (1957) where her glamorous, sophisticated appearance was light years away from the new kids on the block. On one package tour, she was so irritated by the 15-year-old Paul Anka's adolescent high spirits that she had him tarred and feathered. 

In 1958, she was one of the best-selling artists for Atlantic, on a short list of musicians who never sold less than 50,000 units and by 1961, she had three million-selling singles: "I Cried a Tear", "Tweedle Dee", and "Jim Dandy". In addition to singing, she did some work with Ed Sullivan and Alan Freed on TV and in films, including Rock, Rock, Rock and Mr. Rock & Roll. In 1958, she recorded the Bessie Smith tribute album LaVern Baker Sings Bessie Smith.Baker managed a total of 20 records in the US Top 100 in her career, one of the later ones being a sophisticated version of Ma Rainey's "See See Rider" in 1963. She also recorded with Ben E. King ("A Help Each Other Romance", 1960) and Jackie Wilson ("Think Twice", 1965). 

She entertained troops in Vietnam in the mid-Sixties, where she became seriously ill with bronchial pneumonia. While recovering at the U.S. naval base at Subic Bay in the Philippines, a friend recommended that she stay as the entertainment director at the Marine Corps Staff NCO club there, only returning to America for Atlantic's 40th birthday celebrations in 1988. Following this, she recorded new songs for the films Shag (1988) and Dick Tracy (1990), and appeared on Broadway in the revue Black and Blue. 

In 1990, she made her Broadway debut, replacing Ruth Brown as the star of the hit musical Black and Blue at Brown's suggestion. In 1991, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1992, she recorded the album Woke Up This Morning for DRG Records. She continued performing after both legs were amputated because of complications due to diabetes in 1994 Baker made "Jump into the Fire", her last recording, for the 1995 Harry Nilsson tribute CD For the Love of Harry on the Music Masters label She continued to perform live after the loss of her legs; in ailing health, she sang at a benefit concert honoring her in late 1996 that helped pay for her recent medical bills. At that time she said, "God took my legs, but He left me my voice so I could continue to do what I love, to sing and entertain." 

Baker died of cardiovascular disease on March 10, 1997, at the age of 67. She was buried in an unmarked plot in Maple Grove Cemetery in Kew Gardens, New York. Local historians raised funds for a headstone, which was erected on May 4, 2008. In 2020, Baker was inducted into the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame (Edited from Wikipedia) 

(Edited from Wikipedia & Spencer Leigh obit @ The Independent)